Mutate? Exterminate! by warheart

[raw]
made by warheart for LD24 (JAM)
Mutate? Exterminate! is an arena based schmup style game, where the enemies evolve/mutate with each other, sharing their genetic traits (including colour).

There are three types of enemies, Red, Green and Blue. Enemies with strong colour channels (visible in their appearance) will receive attacking abilities matching that colour. These attacks stack, so yellow enemies (strong in red and green) will have both the red and green attacks. Enemies that are strong in all 3 colour channels are known as "PureBred" (White in appearance) and will have all 3 of the attacks, making them the most dangerous. Essentially, Bright enemies are genetically superior, Dull enemies are genetically inferior.

You can receive a power up called "The Devolver" (bad revolver pun intended). This gun comes in the three colours, and will be automatically applied to your attacks for a short amount of time. Attacks with The Devolver will remove genetic traits from enemies, for example, a Red Devolver will remove the red colouration from enemies, and thus weakening them.

Goal:
The goal of the game is to survive as long as possible, to get the best score!

Controls:
W,A,S,D to move.
Left Click to shoot.
Right click to use a bomb.


Note for download: The zip file is password protected as it contains an executable for the installer (sorry). The password is: ludumdare24
Also, sorry for the file size, the game is only about 4mb, but I had to include the DirectX redistributable with the installer.

For those wondering, Immortal Games is the indie studio I am co-founder of. I wrote the engine being used, which is written in C++ with lua scripting support and a DirectX11 renderer. This game was made on my own for a bit of fun. I wanted to go in the compo, not the Jam, but unfortunately the engine is our companies proprietary property.

Feedback

K1NET1K
28. Aug 2012 · 11:23 UTC
Great graphics (although the background was a bit unnecessary, maybe the terrain should do something), and the controls are slick
PickledBrain
29. Aug 2012 · 18:14 UTC
It just crashes on startup for me. DX and the redist installed just fine.
jprogman
07. Sep 2012 · 21:59 UTC
The game does get too chaotic after 1/2 minute or so. I would have enjoyed the game better if it weren't for the confusing control mechanic. I would like to aim to where my mouse cursor is at as I move and shoot. Instead, the cannon seems to only turn when I move the mouse; which happens to feel awkward. One more thing: Why no autofire?? :(
The game does have what it takes to make it fun to play, but the controls needs to be more fluid and tight. Oh, and bonus points for humor on the "sexual reproduction."